COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA (ABN: 122 104 616)

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Merry Christmas to oil companies Aussies ripped off as government does nothing, again!

It's been happening every single holiday season, you know Christmas, Easter, school holidays, etc.The petrochemical giants have been gouging Australian motorists, year after year for decades, but have told the plebs that it's not the case.The retail price of petrol has gone up by up to 30% overnight in some places, whereas the oil price (per barrel) has remained steady or even dropped.

Apparently the Australian government has a 'watchdog' or institution that can apparently intervene, but this has not happened to this date.

So, many people have said that these 'watchdogs' are as useless as the proverbial on a bull Are these people in office colluding with the CEO's or other people in the industry?Are the people in the positions of government also part of the 'brotherhood' where they get their order first and foremost from?Whatever the real reason for the lack of action at the end of the day it is the Australian tax slaves general populous that bleeds trough the wallet.Deliberate by design?

THAT sneaking suspicion that petrol stations are gouging us has been proven true.

The
national competition regulator has released a damning report that
confirms service stations are taking the biggest cut that’s been seen in
more than a decade.

Despite plummeting oil prices, retailers are
enjoying the highest margins since monitoring began in 2002, keeping
prices above $1.30 across the country.

The margin means the
difference between what petrol station operators pay for petrol compared
with the price they charge consumers.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims told the ABC there was “a bit of aggression going on” in the market.

“We’ve
certainly noticed that in some of our regional market studies and
looking nationally it does seem as if margins are at the highest level
ever and that does suggest some fairly aggressive behaviour in the
petrol market,” Mr Sims said.

Asked if this amounted to “price
gouging”, he told the ABC that “people can use whatever terms they want,
but it certainly is I think some reasonably aggressive behaviour”.

He said Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide were the worst hit, while Melbourne and Perth did not fare as badly.
Mr Sims called on petrol retailers to rethink their approach, or risk damaging their reputations.

With
global oil prices levelling out to their long-term average, the
wholesale price of petrol has dropped by eight cents a litre. But this
has not been passed onto drivers.

The ACCC is fighting Australia’s
five largest petrol retailers in court, alleging that a third party
company has been enabling them to alert each other to their prices in
close to real time.

Quarterly average gross retail margins in Australia’s five largest cities, in real terms. Picture: ACCCSource:Supplied

The
average retail petrol price in the Australia’s five largest cities was
133.2 cents per litre in the September quarter, down 2.6 cents from the
June quarter (135.8 cpl).

But the decrease followed much bigger falls in international crude oil and refined petrol prices.
A weaker Australian dollar went only some of the way towards explaining the discrepancy.

Mr
Sims said if the exchange rate had been at the same level as it was in
January 2013, when it bought $US1.05, retail petrol prices in the
September quarter 2015 would have been about 20 cents lower.

International
prices fell during the quarter due to a rise in crude oil supplies in
global markets, and the Australian dollar fell by 9 per cent to 70 US
cents.

The report also showed that gross retail margins in the
September quarter were at their highest level since the ACCC began
monitoring in 2002.

Average margins in the five largest cities were 11.8 cpl, an increase of 1.3 cpl from the June quarter.

Sydney and Brisbane had the highest margins in the September quarter, about 14 cpl.

“In
fact, margins in Brisbane have been consistently higher than in the
other major cities in recent years. We will be closely monitoring gross
retail margins in the coming months, because high retail margins likely
indicate increased profits of the petrol companies at the expense of
motorists.”

The ACCC recently released a separate report into the
petrol industry in Darwin, where inflated prices are forcing motorists
to fork out an extra $9 million a year due to “weak competition”.

“We
hope that the findings from the Darwin market study, as well as from
future market studies, will provide a better understanding of why petrol
prices in many regional locations are as high as they are,” Mr Sims
said.
The ACCC has been closely monitoring petrol prices since
December last year, when then Coalition minister Bruce Billson ordered
quarterly reports on prices, costs and profits, for a period of three
years.